Phonetic expressive means and stylistic devices

Assonance
Assonance – a phonetic stylistic device; it is the agreement of vowel sounds (sometimes combined with likeness in consonants).
e.g. One’s upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary …
Как то в полночь, в час угрюмый, полный тягостною думой …
e.g. … and the Raven never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting …
… и сидит, сидит зловещий ворон черный, ворон вещий …
Some linguists among them Yu.M. Skrebnev considers that expressive means of language constitute the subject of stylistics only partially. Having an option to the force of form rather than that of logic, they are employed
in spheres of speech that aim to impress: poetry, fiction, oratory, colloquial speech, but hardly ever science, technology, business letters. In his opinion it would be wrong to confine the aims of stylistics to the investigating expressive means only. Style is regarded as a system of special stylistic devices except that we do not know as yet what these devices are. Stylistic perception is formed in people's minds not only by "special devices", but also by certain minor features, not conspicuous by themselves, but collectively affecting the stylistic quality of the text.
Working on the seminar you should also pay attention to plurality of terms suggested by Western and former Soviet scholars. As I.R. Galperin’s approach is taken into consideration in this course, your special concentration should be given to the terms of Expressive Means and Stylistic Device. Distinguishing between the two seems not an easy matter.
In phonetics the basis of articulationis the default position or standard settings of a speaker's organs of articulation when ready to speak. An alternative term is articulatory setting,.^[1][2] Different languages each have their own basis of articulation, which means that native speakers will share a certain position of tongue, lips, jaw, possibly even uvula or larynx, when preparing to speak. These standard settings enable them to produce the sounds and prosody of their native language more efficiently.
Different accents within a given language may have their own characteristic basis of articulation, resulting in one accent being perceived as, e.g., more 'nasal', 'velarized' or 'guttural' than another. According to Cruttenden, “The articulatory setting of a language or dialect may differ from GB [General British]. So some languages like Spanish may have a tendency to hold the tongue more forward in the mouth, while others like Russian may have a tendency to hold it further back in the mouth.
The main peculiarities of the English articulation basis are: 1) the tongue is broadened and flattened; 2) the tip is slightly hollowed out and slightly drawn back from the teeth; 3) the lips are neutral, they are deliberately neutralized and spread, the upper lip is tense.
Out of many varieties of English, it is the British “received pronunciation”, mainly based on South England dialects, which has traditionally been used as a standard for ESL teaching in Europe and in many other places around the world.
Christopher Cooper (1685, 10-11) wrote that the English “speak their syllables and words distinctly and outwardly from the lips (cited by Laver (1978, 4)). English was often contrasted with German as not being guttural.
Wallis and Cooper only mentioned the tongue position indirectly. It was Henry Sweet who clearly described it as “broadened and flattened, and drawn back from the teeth (which it scarcely ever touches), and the forepart of it is hollowed out […]”
The tip of the tongue may be slightly raised forming a concave profile. The degree of the tip rising is subject to considerable dialectal variation. In some English and most American dialects the tip of the tongue is markedly raised giving the neutral vowel a specific [r] sound.
The secondary feature, directly relating to this anchorage, is the so-called “grooving” which is well attested in English. Stone et al. (1988) measured the continuous lateral contact with the upper molars throughout the production of all English vowels (Fig.2), particularly, the middle and front ones.
Out of many varieties of English, it is the British “received pronunciation”, mainly based on South England dialects, which has traditionally been used as a standard for ESL teaching in Europe and in many other places around the world.
Christopher Cooper (1685, 10-11) wrote that the English “speak their syllables and words distinctly and outwardly from the lips (cited by Laver (1978, 4)). English was often contrasted with German as not being guttural.
Wallis and Cooper only mentioned the tongue position indirectly. It was Henry Sweet who clearly described it as “broadened and flattened, and drawn back from the teeth (which it scarcely ever touches), and the forepart of it is hollowed out […]”
The tip of the tongue may be slightly raised forming a concave profile. The degree of the tip rising is subject to considerable dialectal variation. In some English and most American dialects the tip of the tongue is markedly raised giving the neutral vowel a specific [r] sound.
The secondary feature, directly relating to this anchorage, is the so-called “grooving” which is well attested in English. Stone et al. (1988) measured the continuous lateral contact with the upper molars throughout the production of all English vowels (Fig.2), particularly, the middle and front ones.
People belonging tо different races and nationalities possess an identical s speech apparatus. That is why in all existing languages there are typologically identical sounds, such as consonants, vowels and sonorants. For instance, in all European languages and in the languages of the Soviet Union there are such typologically identical sounds as /а, о, u, i, е, t, m, к, 1, s, d/ etc. And yet, not a single sound of one language isabsolutely identical spectrally with a typologically identical sound, of another language. This is due to the fact that people use their speech organs differently, or, as phoneticians say, it is due tо the difference in the articulation basis.The articulation basis may be defined, аs the general tendencies (or habits 'in the way native speakers use their speech organs both during speech and at rest.The articulation basis influences the phonetic system of a language. Тhe articulation basis of one language may differ from the articulation basis of another language. Though the articulation bases of English, Kazakh have not yet been studied we may only speak about the most characteristic features of the Received Pronunciation articulation basis as compared with the Kazakh Standard articulation bases. Differences in the articulation bases of English, Kazakh, reflected in the system of consonants, are as follows: (1) The English have a tendency to hold the tip of the tongue in neutral position at the level of the alveoli (or teeth-ridge), whereas the Kazakhs keep it much lower, at tooth level . That is why there are about 50 %of all theconsonants in R .P. which are articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveoli, as in /t, d, n, 1, s, z, ∫,ӡ , ʧ, ʤ , r/.They are alveolar, palato-alveolar and post-alveolar in accordance with the place of obstruction. The tip of the tongue in the articulation of Kazakh forelingual consonants occupies dental position.